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Thursday, October 22, 2015

Inspired by Autumn: A Series in Art Making, Week 4 in Photos

Are you the photographer in your family?Are you always looking to take photos that capture the true spirit of your loved ones?

Then, I am with you. I am by NO MEANS a photography guru. But I am in your shoes and here are SEVEN photo ideas because many of our art projects begin with photos :)

Welcome to Week 4 of my Inspired by Autumn mini Blog series and a peek into my little family in my DIY photos!

If this is your first time here, let me tell you a little bit about what this series is about.

Autumn is my most favorite time of the year. Right now, nature is at its best in my eyes and that is inspiring my creativity! I'm sketching, art journaling, photographing, scrapbooking... you can take a peek into my Instagram to see some of my daily musings. In order to live this beautiful season to the fullest, I wanted to share some of my favorite fall projects, new and old, along with brief how-tos here on my blog every Thursday this October.

You are most welcome to take inspiration from these projects. Don't feel limited by any product choices that I made here. Feel free to give it your own spin!

Stop by on Thursdays this month to see some inspired projects from me. Feel free to ask if you have questions for me.

If you too are inspired to create by autumn, please leave link(s) to your favorite fall-inspired creations in the comment section!

Such things are better shared, right?

Week 4 is ALL about photos! I took these photos with different cameras: my LG smartphone camera, Samsung WB35OF and my precious Canon Rebel XT.

Idea # 1: Look around and capture a bit of nature

I'll start off with my leaf collection. My neighborhood is surrounded by Maple trees. I don't know the names, but there are at least ten varieties of Maple leaves that fly into the yard.

Some are rich purples, some are bright yellows and some are deep reds with green veins.

Every time I step out, I collect some and marvel at their beauty. That is important for me to record especially because this is our first time in a place where we can SEE seasons change in nature. We used to live in Florida where autumn was not this glorious. Plus, our family in India love to see our lives in our new home (we moved recently) in photos. Taking this kind of photos help me tell our stories meaningfully in my scrapbook.

To compose a similar shot, you can layer some leaves, big to small, in varying colors. Hold them in your hand or ask one of the kids (mine don't always cooperate). If you are holding the leaves, stretch your hand out as far as you can (if you are right-handed like me, hold them in your left and the camera with the right) and click.

Idea # 2: Capture the love

These are my two girls. My oldest is almost like a little mommy to my youngest! She ROCKS as a babysitter! These girls are sweet little things that end-cap my one boisterous, adventurous boy that you are going to meet next! In this photo, I played with Depth of Field in Photoshop a bit. That is, in my layman terms, making what's in the front pop up by making what's in the background recede further.

Idea # 3: Catch them in action.

Here he is, my son... he loves to help his dad in the yard when, of course, his mood strikes. At other times, you can't get a response from him even if the house is on fire (so to speak... I'll drag and carry him out if that happened!), especially if he is playing Minecraft, Terraria, Pikmin and other such video games.

Idea # 4: Catch them in a moment of pause.

This is him on one such rare moment! Took much MUCH effort to just get him to stand still for a shot because he was 'busy'... sigh!

Idea # 5: Catch them even if they refuse to smile. It's a phase!

My oldest, freshly turned teen... she has a beautiful smile but doesn't like to smile for pose. But I'll take whatever I can get!

PLEASE tell me, I'm NOT the only one facing such challenges!

Idea # 6: Capture the scene even if the lighting is imperfect.

Our kids had Columbus Day off from school. So it became a long weekend giving us time to go on a long drive. We drove to the Camelback Mountains and on our way, I had my husband pull over so I can take pictures of these cotton plants by the roadside. It was mid-day, the light was harsh. Not happy with the results, but still lucky to have a snapshot. Any ideas about how to make such photos look nicer? I did adjust my camera's White Balance setting to the Sun icon.